After the GSMA, the organizers of the Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2020, officially announced the cancellation of this anchor event, for health safety reasons due to global concern regarding the coronavirus outbreak, travel concern and other potential  environment risks, the companies that were supposed to exhibit at the fair grounds had to change course of action this spring. From our perspective, as a small software company from Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania region, in Romania, the news was hard to take. And we learned that for most small and medium size companies, the cancellation of the leading technology event in Europe has a big impact.

#1 Online and Self-Organized Event Launches

One of the first courses of actions taken by the large mobile phone producers who used to launch their latest models at the MWC was to reorganize the launches.

  • Sony Mobile was expected to launch a flagship update in Barcelona. Now this will occur only online on the 24th of February.
  • Huawei stated that they will continue informing customers and partners through online and regional events to show Huawei’s latest products and solutions.
  • LG as one of the first companies to withdraw from the fair, has informed that they will hold launch events later this year.
  • Xiaomi was about to have a global launch of the new model at MWC. A new event is on course of rearranegement to serve this goal.
  • HMD Global was planning to launch new Nokia products. The company is expected to provide details on how and when will this happen.
  • Oppo has announced to officially postpone the launch of it new product.
  • Honor has confirmed that it will still hold a launch event on February 24th – an online event to release a few new products.
  • Qualcomm has moved on to announcing new modem and to unveil a faster, new mmwave modules that help maintain a connection to the ultra-fast mmwave version of 5G.

#2 Less room for behind-the-scenes deals

For those who have lived the MWC Barcelona experience It was aliving proof that this show was about connecting big vendors with new or smaller players and making deals that could not occur without the live meeting of the teams. Where will they occur now? The corona virus fuelled disease is still causing travel blocakges and health concerns, therefore, this year the mobile industry will have to make its own way through these evolution of events.

More than 2000 companies have been affected by the cancellation of MWC Barcelona 2020, not to mention the small businesses in the city of Barcelona (venues, hotels, restaurants, event logistics providers, transportation, etc.)

#3 Switching to Regional and Online Reach

As it results from the recommended healthy practices, travelling less and being alert at potential symptoms is a must. This translates in meeting partners from your own region and / or proceeding wityh online business communications.

For SOFTECH from Cluj-Napoca, the online approach is the most used for making new business partners, but the physical presence at MWC Barcelona was definetely a unique opportunity to showcase its capabilities and get the chance to meet potential future customers. We are aware of the efforts that Romanian official representatives were putting in the organization of the national pavilion and we hope for the best for the next year!

See you at MWC Barcelona 2021! Meanwhile, you are welcome to get in touch with us directly at contact@softech.ro

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